Desktop word processing and publishing application programs allow layman users to create professional-looking documents and other output. Many prior art application programs provide tools that allow a user to custom format text in a document. For example, tools may be provided for selecting font face, font size, font color, text alignment, and other formatting options. Such tools are typically independent of one another, which forces the user to individually select and apply different formatting options until a desirable look for the document is discovered.
In order to tie some of the formatting options together, some application programs allow the user to define “styles.” To define a style, the user is able to interact with various menus and controls in order to custom format a portion of text. The user may then name the custom format and cause the custom format name to appear in a “styles menu” or the like. Subsequent text may be selected and automatically formatted with the custom format by interacting with the styles menu. Style tools, however, tend to go undiscovered by the typical layman user. When discovered, style tools tend to be confusing to the typical user. In particular, many users have a difficult time modifying the style tags that they have created.
In addition to the difficulties encountered with formatting tools, layman users generally lack the training and experience needed to create professional-looking documents from scratch. For example, layman users are typically not trained to know which fonts look best in which sizes and in which color schemes. Also, many times layman users do not know, in advance of creating a document, what formats they desire for the document. Laymen users are, however, able to compare several differently formatted documents to determine which style is most suitable to them.
Accordingly, some prior art application programs offer “templates,” which provide the layman user with a constrained range of formatting choices, and thus well defined starting points for creating professional-looking documents. A template is a predefined format definition that is usually tied to a theme. For example, an application program may provide a birthday template for creating birthday cards or invitations, a garage sale template for creating garage sale signage, and the like. For the more creative layman user, templates tend to be too rigid and unyielding. While it may be possible to modify the format definitions within a template, it is often tedious and difficult to do so.
Thus, there remains a need for a simple and integrated tool for formatting a document according to a constrained range of formatting choices. There is a further need for simple and integrated tool for formatting a document according to a constrained range of formatting choices that is not tied to a predetermined theme.